36th anniversary of U.S. hostage crisis in Iran

November 4, 2015 5:01 PM

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On November 4, 1979, Iranian student revolutionaries stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and took a group of Americans hostage after Washington refused to hand over the toppled U.S.-backed shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, for trial in Iran.

Ultimately, the students held 52 hostages for 444 days, and the two countries have had no diplomatic relations since then. The group of 52 were released minutes after Ronald Reagan took his oath as president of the U.S., dramatic timing witnessed by many on television with a split screen broadcast.